Still think Obama and Kerry stumbled into a last-minute solution on Syrian chemical weapons? Maybe not…
I am privileged to receive The Nelson Report on an almost daily basis from my old friend Chris Nelson, a long-time Asia analyst, legislative aide, and journalist. Most of the Report is devoted to Asian trade and politics, but every once in a while it unearths some fascinating domestic material. The most recent case in point is a conversation between Chris and one of his many sources on the move towards agreement on Syrian chemical weapons.
From a private phone call:
…what if I told you that Obama and Putin began talking about a plan to try and gain control of Syria's chemical weapons more than a year ago, and that they had been tossing it back and forth all since then?
And:
This started over a year ago and it was at Obama's initiative, they were discussing with the Russians development of joint measures to recover Syria's chemical weapons.
Oh, sure, you say: another rabid Obama fan trying to rewrite history. But according to Chris, his source is well informed, has no horse in the race, and in fact, is connected to Republican interests. More:
Think about it! Do you really think it only took Lavrov 3 hours from Kerry's chance remark last Monday to come up with a proposal and a plan to do it? Do you really think the Russians are that good!? Could we do that? You ever know any government that could do that!?
This is not speculation, according to the Report: this happened. Other sources confirm that rumors of this backstory have been floating around DC for quite some time. The reason they didn’t make more of a splash is that no one thought anything would come of this long-planned and long pursued strategy.
Back in the Bush years, Chris was able to dish some fascinating inside dirt on the Bush style, all of which turned out to be substantiated and true (to the nation's sorrow). I have no reason to believe that this latest revelation is any different (except for the sorrow part). One final quotation from Chris's source:
Look, no one's saying we're being governed by geniuses, but isn't this far more plausible than the 'three hour miracle for idiots' scenario that we've been reading in the media for the past week?
As much as I'd like to be governed by geniuses, I'll settle for reasonably intelligent men and women trying to make things better for all of us.